State GOP says Williams no longer a bona fide Republican

Tennessee Republican Party chair Robin Smith announced Monday her decision on the fate of Speaker of the House Kent Williams, and the verdict was as expected: Williams is no longer a "bona fide" Republican.

Almost three weeks ago, Williams shocked his now former party by joining Democrats in the Tennessee House of Representatives in voting to install him as Speaker of the House instead of the GOP nominee, State Rep. Jason Mumpower.

In a letter to the Tennessee Republican Party Executive Committee, Smith explained that she was kicking Williams out of the party because he did not have the interests of the Republican party at heart.

“We have watched during the last 28 days to see if Kent Williams would assign the 13 committee chairmanships to the Republican Majority. He did not. We watched to see how Rep. Williams would assign office space and staff to the Republican Majority. He has crammed 49 of his colleagues into 46 offices,” Smith said.

“We have watched Rep. Williams maintain the same wage practices with Democrat staff earning more than the Republican staff, even as democrat staffers are assigned to fewer representatives,” she continued. “We have learned that Mr. Williams has met with Gov. Bredesen as the ‘Republican Representative’ on the critical issue of the budget. Mr. Williams has withheld all of this information from the Republican Caucus encumbering their policy statements and decisions.”

Smith added that the state GOP has been “repeatedly informed” that Williams was refusing to caucus with the Republicans.

“We requested that members of the Caucus provide the TRP with specific examples of assistance that Rep. Williams has given to our candidates, caucus or party,” Smith said. “None could.”

The move by Smith to strip Williams of his "bona fide" status as a Republican means that he can no longer run for office as a member of the Republican party. It also means that Williams will no longer be identified as a Republican in press reports.

For his part Williams said that he would always consider himself a Republican — a Carter County Republican. He told reporters on Monday that the “Republican party has been on a downslide for over a decade. Our state party just hit rock bottom. When one person can decide who is on the ballot and who is not... Well, who is next.”

Williams said he was not surprised at the decision and said that when he was elected Speaker, Smith came up to him on the floor and stated, “It's hard to kill the devil; in two years we are going to kill the devil.”

State Rep. Gary Odom, the House Democratic Leader seemed bemused by the GOP move.

“I find the actions of the State Republican Party's leadership curious at best. Their decision to oust Speaker Kent Williams from the party surrenders not only the Speaker position but also the Republican majority in the House,” he said. “Apparently when their anointed one failed in his bid to become House Speaker, retaliation became more important than conducting the state's business.”

Odom added that he thought it was important to note that some of the same players who helped make Monday’s decision were also involved in trying to defeat Williams in his district's Republican Primary on two different occasions.

“I look forward to once again inviting Speaker Williams to become a member of our State Democratic Party and I ask that he reconsider the seven Republican Chairmanships which he appointed in January,” Odom said.

But according to Williams, that won't happen. He said that the only way that committee chairs will change is if a chair is unable to perform their job. He also said that he will not join the Democratic party and should he run for re-election in two years he would do so as an independent.

Williams’ hometown paper, The Elizabethton Star, got in on the act and editorialized on Smith’s decision. They had a few choice words for Smith, and Republican State Rep. Brian Kelsey of Memphis.

The paper defended Williams’ individualism, but wrote: “We do not think that Republicans in Memphis and Chattanooga, where Ms. Smith is from, should be meddling in Carter County politics. We may live in the mountains, but we aren't ignorant. We are learned enough in politics to vote. We don't need the bright out-spoken lawyer from Memphis nor the "blonde" saleswoman from Chattanooga to tell us how to vote, nor do we need them to select our candidates.”